If you are looking for an affordable, portable standalone drawing tablet, there are three popular and best options: Apple ipad 10th gen, Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE and XPPen Magic Drawing Pad.

All 3 tablets provides superior features, build quality and performance for both art and general-purpose use. The form factor, battery life and stylus sensitivity are elite.

So, the question is – which of the three mid-range tables provides a better drawing experience, and proves to be an overall better package.

In this article, I will compare the Apple iPad10th gen, Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE and XPPen Magic Drawing Pad from the perspective of a digital artist.

I will discuss the screen, the stylus as well as the drawing apps to give you a clear idea about which of the two devices will suit your needs better.

XPPen Magic Drawing Pad vs Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE vs Apple iPad (10th Gen) Comparison

Here is a quick comparison between all the features these 3 tablets come with.

Key Standalone Drawing Tablet Features In-Depth Comparison

Here’s a more in-depth analysis of the three tablets, These will help us better understand the pros and cons in each case.

Screen Size & Quality

One big difference is 10.9-inch vs 12.2-inch display. XPPen magic drawing pad comes with a larger 12.2-inch display， while ipad 10th gen and samsung galaxy tab S9FE have a smaller 10.9-inch screen.

The 12.2″ is great for drawing for a larger canvas, but the 10.9″ is still a great size, more portable and easier to handle, especially for someone with smaller hands.

However, A 10.9-inch display is not ideal for use with apps that have many user interface elements, such as Clip Studio Paint and Krita.

All three tablets deliver high-resolution images with bright colors. They use different technologies, and some people may notice differences, but they’ll be pretty close to the average person.

The  Liquid Retina panel on the iPad is one of the best implementations of an LCD screen though, with vibrant colors and great brightness.

The Tab S9 FE and xppen magic drawing pad features a TFT LCD panel. While both does not match the iPad’s color vibrancy, they suffices for drawing and media consumption.

If we compare XPPen magic drawing pad and samsung galaxy tab S9FE separately in terms of visual quality, XPPen has lower definition and narrower color gamut than Samsung.

Refresh Rate

Refresh rate counts the number of times the display fully refreshes every second. A Higher refresh rates result in smoother motion and reduced motion blur, which can enhance the viewing experience.

samsung galaxy tab S9FE has got an edge with a smoother 90Hz refresh rate, providing a more fluid feel for drawing, animations, and app navigation compared to the  60Hz on xppen magic drawing pad and ipad 10th gen.

Drawing Surface

The matte surface of the XPPen Magic Drawing Pad screen is a huge plus, which gives just the right amount of resistance to the pen, emulating the typical pen-to-paper experience.

Another upside of the textured screen is reduced glare and reflections. No screen holds up against direct sunlight, but you’ll experience fewer frustrations than working with a glossy screen.

On the other hand, The iPad 10th gen and samsung galay tab s9 fe, designed primarily as a tablet, features a glossy surface typical of smartphones, which may detract from the drawing experience. To fix this, you can apply a matte or paper-textured screen protector.

Screen Lamination

Both XPPen magic drawing pad and samsung galaxy tab s9 fe comes with a laminated screen, ensuring an enhanced visual experience with minimized parallax effect.

So there’s no gap between the glass and LCD. When drawing or writing, the line will look like it’s appearing beneath the pen tip.

on the other hand, ipad 10th gen comes with a non-laminated screen, which means there’s a tiny air gap between the glass and the display panel. This gap can create parallax, but thankfully that gap is not that big though and not really noticeable when drawing.

In addition, because of the air gap, if you use a stylus to work with your iPad 10th gen, you may notice one interesting “flaw” — tapping on the display makes it a bit noisier, which can be annoying for many creatives.

Stylus Pen

Needless to say – a stylus is the most important part of a drawing tablet. No matter how good the tablet is, a stylus has the power to make or break your drawing experience of using that tablet.

Both Samsung and XPPen tablets bundles a free stylus Pen with their tablets, while apple ipad do need you to make a separate purchase if you want to use a pen with it.

Both Samsung and XPPen stylus pens employs electromagnetic resonance, which transmits position, pressure and angle. They requires no batteries and no charging, which is a plus.

There is one button along the side of the two pens. This is programmable in some applications like Infinite Painter or Ibis Paint X where you could assign it to something like Undo or triggering the Eyedropper.

On the other hand, Apple ipad 10th gen only supports the first-generation Apple Pencil. It is battery-operated and must be charged to function. It doesn’t have a button for quick access.

The Samsung S Pen has a soft rubberised nib, while the Apple Pencil only has one hard rubberised tip for drawing. The feel of drawing with the pen tips are different and which is better will come down to personal preference.

XPPen magic drawing pad comes with 8 Pen Nibs (4 standard +4 felt) so you can find the right thickness or sharpness no matter what masterpiece you’re crafting.

Drawing Experience

Both Apple Pencil 2 and Samsung S Pen supports pressure, tilt and palm rejection. Both are very sensitive and have accurate tracking, allowing for precise and natural writing and drawing.

XPPen X3 Pro Pencil boasts an impressive 16,384 levels of pressure and a dedicated X3 Pro chip to precisely capture the subtleties of the artist’s hand.

What XPPen X3 Pro Pencil missing is the tilt recognition that other 2 stylus pens have this. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it would be nice to have. This would be to mimic the experience of drawing with a pencil that lets you really angle the pen for different kinds of mark.

Palm rejection is good, but you’ll need the lightweight drawing glove, included in the package to make it perfect.

All 3 pens have low initial activation force and can detect minimal pressure changes quite well when drawing with minimal pressure. Lines are able to taper smoothly and sharply. There’s no wobble when drawing diagonal lines slowly.

Performance

Typically, the powerful hardware, including afast processor and ample RAM, ensures smooth performance when running graphic-intensive drawing applications.

All 3 tablets are mid-range tablets, so Just don’t expect these tablets to be great for heavy productivity tasks (like on the go video editing, animation, huge size illustrations, crazy multitasking). For your use case they will be just fine and smooth.

Processor: The XPPen Magic Drawing Pad features the Mediatek MT8771 chipset, Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE uses the Exynos 1380 chipset, while the iPad 10th gen utilizes Apple’s A14 Bionic chip.

The A14 Bionic generally offers a noticeable performance advantage, especially in CPU and GPU tasks, leading to faster loading times and smoother multitasking compared to the Exynos 1380 and Mediatek MT8771.

Under the hood, the XPPen magic drawing pad’s Mediatek MT8771 processor is the weakest but it’s still powerful enough to run drawing apps smoothly.

RAM: The iPad 10th gen has 4GB RAM, which is more than enough for drawing. Apple uses memory more efficiently.

XPPen magic drawing pad has 8GB of ram while samsung galaxy tab s9 fe comes with 6GB or 8GB of RAM.

While 6GB might suffice for drawing and casual use, it can become limiting when working with more demanding tasks or multitasking.

For drawing on an Android tablet, 8GB of RAM is generally recommended for a smooth and responsive experience, especially when working with multiple layers or large canvases.

Storage

If you are using this thing professionally, you may be worried about storage space.

The basic iPad 10th gen comes with a poor 64GB non-expandable storage, necessitating additional investments for higher storage variants or extra iCloud space.

The XPPen Magic Drawing Pad is packed with 256GB of internal storage, but you can add an additional 512GB with a microSD card – that should do it.

The basic Tab S9 FE model has 128gb of storage, but it supports expandable storage via a microSD card slot, allowing users to extend storage up to a staggering 1TB.

Overall, Both XPPen and Samsung offers an advantage over the iPad’s fixed storage options.

Ecosystem and Creative Apps

The iPad 10th gen runs on iPadOS (iOS-based) while the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE and XPPen Magic Drawing Pad runs on Android, offering different ecosystem and apps.

Generally, The iPad is known for its software optimization, while the android tablet for its freedom and customisability.

Apple’s App Store is a major strength of the iPad since it offers many excellent, tablet-focused creative apps. The Google Play Store is slightly behind in that regard, especially the graphic design and photo editing apps.

Most popular drawing apps work just fine on both platforms, but you may come across a few that are better and exclusive on the iPad, such as procreate, adobe fresco, photoshop, affinity designer, etc.

With that said, there are some excellent drawing apps for Android, including Krita, Infinite Painter, Clip Studio Paint, Concepts, ibisPaint X, Artflow, medibang paint, and Sketchbook Pro.

Battery life

All 3 tablets comes with similar battery capacities on paper, have good battery life and can usually last more than 9 hours.

Samsung has 45W fast charging which get the tablet to 100% in 2 hours, but there’s no charger in the box.

iPad 10th gen and XPPen magic drawing pad charges more slowly than samsung but has a 20W power brick included in the box.

Accessories

You won’t get a lot of extra accessories from Samsung galaxt tab s9 and Apple ipad 10th gen. Especially the apple ipad, You even need to buy the Pencil separately.

However, The XPPen magic drawing pad comes with a surprising number of accessories, beyond the usual spare pen nibs and USB cable, you also get a nib extractor, drawing glove and TPU protective case.

Design & Build Quality

All 3 tablets are stylish, slim and lightweight. The front is made of glass and the back is made of metal.

The XPPen magic drawing pad is slightly larger and heavier than samsung S9 FE tablet and ipad 10th gen but not by much.

Design is subjective, but given how identical the tablets are to one another, neither is a clear winner or loser.

Valur For Money

At $499, XPPen Magic drawing pad is worth the extra, especially since it can also be used for ordinary work, entertainment and communication tasks.

Priced at around $499, the iPad (10th Gen) is the best value option for those seeking a reliable apple tablet. As you need to pay extra $100 for the apple pencil 1st gen, so the total price is $599.

It’s moderately expensive and pretty good- not great but not priced like a premium product either.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE offers the perfect balance of performance and price at its regular $282.65 cost. So It is more affordable than the XPPen magic drawing pad and Apple 10th gen.

Conclusion

For a long time, Apple’s iPad has generally been the go-to for digital artists on the move. If you already have a Mac computer, there are definitely many advantages to getting an iPad 10th gen over the Samsung and xppen tablet.

Main selling point of the iPad 10th gen for drawing is the fast processor, decent screen, apple pencil support, large number of well designed drawing and graphic design apps available.

For Android users, The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9FE offers great value at it’s price for digital artists. Considering that the S Pen comes included, it’s pricing makes it a pretty decent competitor against the latest base iPad model.

XPPen magic drawing pad is designed as a standalone drawing tablet option for creatives like illustrators and painters, finally, it lives up to the claim.

You’re not getting the perfect package – for instance, the included stylus skips on tilt capabilities and processing power isn’t top-tier, but you still get vibrant, sharp screen and a pleasing pen-to-paper feel.

Ultimately, the best one deoends on your specific drawing needs and preferences.